Barrel cooling period

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Charlie Martinez

Charlie Martinez

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I would like to start hand loading and shooting targets with my Ruger (tang safety) 77 in 243 Win. This rifle has always been used exclusively for hunting & has never been shot at the range for a 30-50 round session. I know it is accurate because it has been sighted in several times & sub 1" MOA groups with factory ammo are pretty normal but the barrel is lightweight & I expect that it will heat up pretty quickly if it's shot more. I hand load and never load up to maximum capacity so velocities are going to be at about 90% of maximum.
My questions are:
1. How many 3-5 consecutive shot groups should I run through it before stopping to prevent overheating?
2. How long must I allow the barrel to cool or how can I tell when I can shoot it again?
3. Can something (aside from opening the bolt & allowing it to cool on its own) be done to speed up the cooling process?
 
With no scientific basis at all, I usually fire five rounds at half minute intervals. I MAY shoot another string after scoping the target, recording chronograph readings, picking up brass, or other short pause. After 5 or 10 shots I leave the rifle in the rack muzzle up, bolt open and hope for convection cooling. I usually have another gun along to shoot while that one cools a bit.

Now you can find remarks from target shooters, me included, who may well bang off 10 or 20 shots as fast as we can load and aim so as to stay in the same wind condition.

A mass produced barrel may heat up and residual stresses cause shots to wander off. Might be something to play with in your .243. A premium match barrel of five times the cost should be straight and uniform and not walk its shots as it heats. That does not mean it is not paying the price in erosion being shot hot. Barrels are wear items to be regularly replaced for target shooting, and life can vary widely. My LR Master friend can tell a loss in accuracy in 2500 rounds on F class bipod, 4000-5000 with sling in High-power. I read on the Internet, therefore it must be so, that one guy claimed MOA until 10,000 rounds with a .223.

There are several little blowers on the market meant to speed cooling but they appear cheaply made and customer reviews are spotty.
 
Jim Watson said:
With no scientific basis at all, I usually fire five rounds at half minute intervals. I MAY shoot another string after scoping the target, recording chronograph readings, picking up brass, or other short pause. After 5 or 10 shots I leave the rifle in the rack muzzle up, bolt open and hope for convection cooling. I usually have another gun along to shoot while that one cools a bit.

Now you can find remarks from target shooters, me included, who may well bang off 10 or 20 shots as fast as we can load and aim so as to stay in the same wind condition.

A mass produced barrel may heat up and residual stresses cause shots to wander off. Might be something to play with in your .243. A premium match barrel of five times the cost should be straight and uniform and not walk its shots as it heats. That does not mean it is not paying the price in erosion being shot hot. Barrels are wear items to be regularly replaced for target shooting, and life can vary widely. My LR Master friend can tell a loss in accuracy in 2500 rounds on F class bipod, 4000-5000 with sling in High-power. I read on the Internet, therefore it must be so, that one guy claimed MOA until 10,000 rounds with a .223.

There are several little blowers on the market meant to speed cooling but they appear cheaply made and customer reviews are spotty.
Click to expand...

How long does it usually take to cool down before you run your next shot groups? Where I shoot the temperature is usually in the 80's
 
Jim Watson said:
With no scientific basis at all, I usually fire five rounds at half minute intervals. I MAY shoot another string after scoping the target, recording chronograph readings, picking up brass, or other short pause. After 5 or 10 shots I leave the rifle in the rack muzzle up, bolt open and hope for convection cooling. I usually have another gun along to shoot while that one cools a bit.
Click to expand...

That sounds about right for me too for a typical sporting rifle like the described .243 -- also based on my personal SWAG. I generally bring several guns to the range and shoot one magazine through each in rotation, leaving some time to cool between.

The amount of heat to dissipate will depend on the specific cartridge and the barrel mass. A .22 Hornet rifle with a thick barrel will probably need about 5x the number of rounds to get as hot as a 22-250 with a thinner tapered barrel.
 
Don’t overthink it. If the barrel walks when it gets warm, you may not even be able to finish a 5 shot group before problems arise. With a well stress relieved barrel, you might be able to pump out rounds with the barrel literally blisteringly hot and still have no issue.

I’ve played the game where I have kept barrels cool and have also lived circumstances where my barrels are fired rapidly and are always “warm” and frequently “too hot to touch.” I haven’t observed - despite common theory - that barrel life is actually improved by avoiding heat. It just hasn’t panned out that way for me in the real world, so I don’t buy the common theory as absolute.

So what you’ll see is a lot of common advice without any scientific or empirical founding, and rarely with even anecdotal evidence.

Shoot the rifle, and don’t overthink it.
 
My hunting rifles tend to have very slim barrels, which heat up fast. On warm days I sometimes can only fire three shot groups, with up to ten minutes in between groups.

When bringing such a rifle to the range, I also bring a .22 to shoot while the centerfire barrel cools. I normally prefer to let the barrel cool until it is no more than warm to the touch. This sometimes takes quite a while. I often have considered some sort of artificial cooling method - over the decades there have been several different commercial devices made available, including everything from little fans which fit into the chamber, all the way up to specially fitted bottles of nitrogen - but never have tried any of them. This one seems to be the most current offering.
 
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denton said:
I know one fellow who cools his barrels with compressed air. That's as insane as putting thermocouples on barrels.
Click to expand...

I’ve used compressed air in a can. I also use an IR thermometer to check temps. I’m now using an air mattress pump to cool the barrel.

You also have to be confident enough in you bench shooting technique to isolate variables and discern what’s you and what’s your barrel. Holding concentration over a 40-50 round range session can be the limiting factor, not the equipment.
 
I've used an infrared digital thermometer to insure what the temps were when rounds began straying. Does work and can be factually documented what the optimum temp range should be. So many things to take into account your best off to go slow and not over think it.

RTEMPB7_v2.jpg
 
The outside temperature plays a big role in how long it takes to cool down. During cooler weather it doesn't take long at all. At other times it can be a LOOOONG time. During summer months when I've needed to get some work done I've resorted to placing rifles in the truck with the engine and AC running to cool them down.

How hot? if it is uncomfortable when I place my hand on the barrel then I stop shooting. I prefer to wait until the barrel is at about the same temp as the air, but not always practical. If it is just warm I'll shoot.

The cartridge matters too. My 223 rifles don't get hot as fast as others burning more powder
 
A hot barrel can tell you many things about a rifle. Which is why one of my standard tests for a new rifle is shoot it fairly rapidly to get the barrel hot. This sometimes reveals otherwise hidden problems such as poor bedding and uneven pressure(s) in the barrel channel. And there is the occasional barrel that just goes crazy when it gets hot, which can be interesting to watch. But when simply testing loads, or sighting-in, it is sensible to take as couple or more rifles to the range and alternate between groups. But when the shooting gets hot and heavy in a prairie dog patch and the barrel(s) are sizzling, This Winter Breeze barrel cooling rig cools a hot barrel in about a half-minuet... barrellcool3.JPG
 
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Nature Boy said:
I’ve used compressed air in a can. I also use an IR thermometer to check temps. I’m now using an air mattress pump to cool the barrel.

You also have to be confident enough in you bench shooting technique to isolate variables and discern what’s you and what’s your barrel. Holding concentration over a 40-50 round range session can be the limiting factor, not the equipment.
Click to expand...
I have one of those. It takes 6 d batteries. It sucks at it's job. But is great as a barrel cooler.
I've noticed my sporter barrels tend to open up in a cork screw pattern if I shoot more than 3 in 3 minutes. They are so l cheap factory guns.
My heavy barreled ones don't seem to change much. Even if they are burning hot.
 
The range I belong to requires chamber flags in guns when the range is "cold". Something like the MagnetoSpeed RifleKuhl Barrel Cooler as mentioned by 38 Special fills that need as well as cooling the barrel in the process.

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1020897832

I have a different brand but same concept. They aren't fast and the speed of cooling depends on the ambient air temperature. But at least you have some air forced passed through the barrel.

With my prairie dog 204 Ruger AR-15, I tried to keep the barrel cool enough so that it could be touched. Not always possible when the P'dogs are plentiful. I use 10 round magazines and only load 5 rounds, again to control the pace of shooting. Also, that does not always work at keeping heat out of the barrel.

My rifle has about 2000 rounds through it and I feel the accuracy has fallen off but I have not taken the time to check it out since the last adventure to South Dakota and I've been working on a new bolt rifle for prairie dogs.
 
Unscientifically, I tried using a rag with water to wipe the outside of the barrel. The rag wasn't dripping wet, just lightly moist...enough to leave a light film of water and the barrel was cerakoted so that the finish wouldn't get damaged. Much like people sweating, hopefully, the water evaporating off of the barrel would help cool it. I did this in conjunction with keeping the action open so that it could cool from both the inside and the outside. I didn't take temperature readings or keep track of the time used to cool things, but it didn't take too long until I could touch the barrel without trouble.
 
Then a whole 'nother approach is the one sniper, Carlos Hathcock, used and that was to only fire one round a day then go home and thoroughly clean his gun. His thinking was that it was the first shot from a cold, clean barrel that counted. Same applies to hunting most of the time. It's that first, and maybe only shot, that counts.

I use a small USB, 5V powered fan on my guns. They can be had very cheaply and the power sources are also plentiful. You could even power it from a solar cell.
 
I do it differently I put my watch on the shooting bench and I shoot 1 round every 2 minutes. If you have the patentce it will work to keep heat down
 
Charlie Martinez: is your car parked Near where you shoot?

I thought other people might have tried starting a car’s engine, putting an unloaded rifle in front of air conditioning vents. It takes me about two minutes for a hot barrel (20 rds. 7.62x39: August) to cool.
... :)nobody seems to claim that fast cooling hurts.

Standing outside in the winter winds doesn’t hurt guns in Canada, MN, MT....—so why would air conditioning hurt?

Woooops: I finally see that jmr40 has also figured out this idea.
 
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